Right-hander casts aside rumors as he and catcher John Baker put on 2-man show in helping Cubs top 1st-place Nationals 7-2

Jason Hammel insists he is oblivious to trade rumors that naturally accompany an impressive performer on a last-place team.

Baseball, after all, is a bottom-line business. Yet Hammel continues to pitch like nobody's business.

The towering right-hander improved to 7-5 with a stingy 2.98 ERA while his batterymate — backup catcher John Baker — drove in four runs Friday as the Cubs defeated the first-place Nationals 7-2 at Wrigley Field.

"You know that somebody is going to be gone but you don't want them to be gone," Baker said of the looming trade deadline.

"A lot of us have been around baseball for so long. You make friends fast and easy-come-easy-go. You learn how to say goodbye. It can be sad and it can be difficult.

"I really hope Hammel stays around because we've developed a really good relationship. I have caught all but one of his starts. And it is a lot of fun for me to know that regardless of who is pitching for the other team, I get to be out there when he pitches. It gives me someone to root for."

Hammel allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk over 61/3 innings. Baker went 3-for-3, including a two-out, three-run double in the seventh.

"It was a huge game for Baker. He was the hero," Hammel said. "Three big hits and he put some good fingers down for me. That's pretty much all I needed."

Hammel said he cannot control whether he will be traded or not, so he tries not to pay attention to rumors. Yet Baker marvels at the ability for both Hammel and Jeff Samardzija to focus.

"Look at somebody like Jeff Samardzija, who went six or seven starts in a row without a win and pitched so well," Baker said. "It can be really frustrating, but I think guys like Jeff, Jason and even Edwin (Jackson), as well … have done a good job of realizing that they're doing everything that they can to help our team win … and not taking it off the field, not taking it home with them."

The Nationals took 1-0 lead in the second inning. Adam LaRoche led off with a single before Ryan Zimmerman doubled him home.

The Cubs took a 2-1 lead in the second after the first four batters reached on hits. Luis Valbuena led off with a double before Chris Coghlan reached on an infield hit. Baker singled up the middle to tally Valbuena and Darwin Barney followed with an RBI single.

"It was good to have everybody pick up the slack for each other," manager Rick Renteria said.

The Nationals tied the game 2-2 in the fourth when LaRoche lined his 10th homer of the year into the right-field basket. The Cubs rebounded in the bottom of the inning with Ryan Sweeney's two-out, two-run single.

Baker delivered his base-clearing blow into the right-field corner to give the Cubs a 7-2 lead in the seventh.

"The point of being an older player and being a backup catcher is the main focus is for us to win the game," Baker said. "That's the only thing I generally care about. But when you get a couple of extra hits, it's like the cherry on top of the sundae."